


I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend

by WhatsYourNameMan



Series: It’s not Sunset Cis either [2]
Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: Brief mentions of coming out, Dysphoria, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Luke and Alex are exes but it’s only mentioned briefly, Reggie is a Good Friend, Trans Character, Trans Male Character, none of the phantoms are cis
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-22
Updated: 2020-11-22
Packaged: 2021-03-09 20:55:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,484
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27662348
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhatsYourNameMan/pseuds/WhatsYourNameMan
Summary: Luke worries that Julie sees him differently after he came out to her.
Relationships: Julie Molina/Luke Patterson, Luke Patterson & Reggie (Julie and The Phantoms), Luke Patterson/Alex (Julie and the Phantoms) (past)
Series: It’s not Sunset Cis either [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2022667
Comments: 11
Kudos: 358





	I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend

**Author's Note:**

> I was too lazy to write a song for this so the song is “I Wanna Be Your Girlfriend” by Ezra Furman (with some alterations), which you should listen to because it’s Very Good. 
> 
> Apparently this is a series now. You don’t absolutely need to read Not A Bad Eternity to understand this but it wouldn’t hurt.

Luke is wearing sleeves. 

Reggie, Alex, and Julie were fooling around with a new song, waiting for Luke to arrive, and when Reggie saw him it brought the music to a screeching halt. 

He’s wearing _sleeves_. 

Not one of his jackets or flannels he saves for special occasions or chilly days on the beach. A hoodie. The hoodie. The hoodie Reggie hasn’t seen since—

“I thought you got rid of that thing in ‘94,” Alex jokes. 

“Get rid of Billie? I could never,” Luke shoots back, but there’s something strained in his smile. 

It’s an old Green Day hoodie, from the 1992 World Tour. It’s about three sizes too big, or at least it was when Luke bought it, and the print is faded after many, many washes. Luke’s dysphoria hoodie. 

“Is everything okay?” Julie asks, glancing between the boys. She may not know the significance of the hoodie, but she’s come to know them all well enough to sense when something’s off. 

“Yeah, why wouldn’t it be?” Luke asks. He doesn’t meet her eyes, focusing instead on tuning up his guitar with a pick between his teeth. 

Reggie strums a little riff on his guitar, and Luke shoots him a grateful look for giving him an out. 

“That’s really good, Reg. Is it new?” 

“Yeah, I was thinking we could work it into this new song.” 

They launch into rehearsal mode then, and whatever’s up with Luke gets lost in the music. Reggie keeps his eyes on him, though, and starts to put the puzzle pieces together in his head. 

The rehearsal is fine— not their best, but they’re satisfied. No one comments further on the hoodie until hours later. Alex is already gone on a date with Willie, and Julie and Flynn are up in the loft working on their master marketing plan for the band. 

Reggie flops down on the couch next to Luke, where he’s absentmindedly chewing on the strings of his hoodie while working on lyrics. Without looking up from his songbook, Luke swings his feet into Reggie’s lap. 

“Whatcha working on?” Reggie asks. 

“Song for Julie,” Luke mumbles, still not looking up. 

“Oh Romeo, how romantic.”

Luke softly kicks Reggie’s leg, and Reggie retaliates by shoving Luke’s feet off his lap. Luke hits him with the book, and they both laugh as Luke readjusts to lean on Reggie’s shoulder. 

Reggie tugs on the sleeve of Luke’s hoodie. “Are you wearing this because of me?” 

“No. I mean, maybe?” He starts chewing on the strings again, an old nervous habit they all thought he’d left behind—along with the hoodie—after his surgery. “I just don’t want you to feel like I’m rubbing it in.“ 

“I know you’re not rubbing it in.” Reggie sits up a bit so he can look his friend in the eyes. “I’m happy for you. I love seeing you wear those dumb tank tops.” 

“Hey!” Luke thumps Reggie’s chest. 

Reggie puts his hands up. “No offense!” 

Luke sighs. “But what about what you said yesterday? About seeing my scars?”

“I guess it set me off a little bit,” Reggie admits, “but that’s not on you.”

“Well if it’s making you uncomfortable—“

“Luke. I swear it’s not.”

Luke looks up at Reggie with those puppy dog eyes and Reggie gives him a reassuring smile. 

“Just because I didn’t get everything you did doesn’t mean I don’t want you to have it,” Reggie says, speaking slowly to make sure he’s articulating himself correctly. “I know what you went through to gain the confidence to wear those tank tops. I’d never take it away from you.” 

“Thanks, Reg.” Luke gives him a small smile, but he can tell Luke still isn’t satisfied. 

“Is there something else bothering you?”

Luke hesitates. “I’ve been feeling dysphoric. Like, more than I have since my surgery. Ever since we told Julie...” He glances up at the loft, lowering his voice a bit. 

“You’re worried she sees you differently?” Reggie finishes for him. 

Luke nods. “I know it’s dumb. She hasn’t been treating me—or any of us—any different, but...” He sighs. “I’ve never dated a cis person before. It was easy with Alex ‘cause he gets it, you know? But what if I’m not what Julie wants?” 

Reggie can’t help it— he bursts into laughter. 

Luke frowns. “What’s so funny?”

Reggie tries to calm himself down. “You’re oblivious.” 

“Dude!”

Reggie giggles. “I’ve seen the way Julie looks at you. You’re definitely what she wants.” 

Luke doesn’t look like he believes it, so Reggie decides to prove it. He grabs Luke’s songbook out of his hands and pops out of existence.

Luke leaps to his feet. “Reggie, what the hell?” 

Reggie reappears in the loft, right in front of Flynn and Julie. He drops the book at Julie’s feet. “Ask your boyfriend what’s wrong,” he says to her. He turns to Flynn. “Wanna see this bird nest I found?” 

Flynn takes the hint and follows Reggie out of the garage. Luke appears in front of Julie a moment later. His eyes fill with relief when she holds the songbook out to him. 

“You didn’t read what I was working on, did you?” Luke asks, taking the book. 

“No, unlike you, I understand boundaries.” 

“Ha ha.” Luke rolls his eyes and slides down next to her. 

Julie takes Luke’s hand and squeezes. There’s a moment of silence between them. 

“Do you wanna talk about what’s been bothering you?” Julie asks. 

Luke closes his eyes and lets out a long sigh. He flips open the songbook to the page he was working on and slides it over to her. 

“What, you’re not gonna sing to me?” she jokes. 

Luke let’s out a little laugh. “It’s not done yet, but...” He gestures towards the book. Julie nods and starts reading it. 

_All of my friends are writing their resumes  
My responsible friends are applying for jobs  
But me, I was thinking of ditching Lucy and going by Lucas  
Baby, would you find that so odd?_

Julie glances at Luke and he blurts out, “That’s not my deadname. I just thought it was catchy.” 

Julie nods and keeps reading. 

_My dying friends are finding religion  
While my intellectual friends are all denying God  
But me I’ve got just one ambition  
I sit around all day wishing  
That the real me might be the one you want._

Luke starts chewing on his hoodie strings again, watching Julie closely as she reads. 

_Honey, I know that I don’t  
Have the body you want in a boyfriend  
What I’m working with  
Is less than ideal  
But maybe, baby  
It’s not all about what you thought that you wanted  
It’s about the way I can make you feel._

Julie closes the book and looks up at Luke. “It’s beautiful.” 

Luke fidgets with his rings. “We never talked about it. After I came out to you. We never talked about what it means for us.” 

“What do you want it to mean?” 

“I don’t want it to mean anything,” Luke says, pulling his hood up. “I really like you, Julie, and I want to be your boyfriend. But I don’t know if this— if I’m what you want.” 

Julie shifts so she’s in front of Luke and pushes the hood away from his face. “You’re everything I want, Luke. Everything and more. I’m sorry if I’ve done anything to make you feel like you’re not.” 

Luke is quick to defend her. “No! You didn’t do anything wrong, it’s just...” He sighs. “I’m not ashamed of who I am. But it matters to some people.” 

“Well, I’m not those people.” She looks into his eyes and hopes he can see how sincere she is. “You were my boyfriend before I knew you were trans, and you’re still my boyfriend now. I just know more about you, and I’m so glad you trusted me with that. It doesn’t change anything at all.”

Luke pulls her into a hug. “Thank you.”

She squeezes him, trying to put all her love for him into the gesture.

After a while, they pull away. 

“Your song needs a chorus,” Julie says. 

“Yeah, I was kinda stuck on that.” 

Julie thinks for a moment, then starts to sing. “ _I wanna be your girlfriend  
I wanna walk down the street hanging from your arm  
That’s right, little old me  
I want to be your girlfriend  
And leave behind this loveless world I’ve known._”

Luke stares at her, jaw agape. 

Julie shrugs. “You can change it to ‘boyfriend.’ But I want to be your girlfriend.” 

“It’s perfect,” Luke whispers. 

They go downstairs to put the whole song together. Reggie and Flynn come back a few minutes later to check on them, but when they see Luke and Julie singing to each other, lost in each other’s eyes, they back away and leave them to it, happy for their friends.


End file.
